One night, a young man in dance school worried about his future walked by an Army recruitment center in Manchester – and joined up. Alex Smith “says that, despite appearances, dancers and soldiers have quite a lot in common. Self-discipline is important in both cases, and a determination to succeed.” – BBC

That’s a bit of an exaggeration – audiences still enjoy seeing comedies at the theatre. But stand-up specials are eating theatre’s lunch. “TV was long seen as the enemy of theatre. … But TV was always fundamentally different than theatre. Comedy, on the other hand, shares a lot. It is a live art form, and the same romantic defenses you often hear of theatre you can also hear from comics—the beauty of its ephemerality, the present-tense nature of the form in a time when everyone is on screens.” – American Theatre

Seriously, connecting the dots is a little bit intense. Bezos’ affair and associated selfies, and his post to Medium last week, “has revealed more than just a series of leaked texts and naked selfies. It has also laid bare a tangled web of overlapping relationships and interests across Hollywood, politics, national security and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” (And if you were wondering why Amazon has Jack Ryan as an original series, well, read on.) – Los Angeles Times

Not unique enough for a visa for the Canadian artists, that is. EXIT Theatre’s founder had consulted a lawyer and submitted reams of information about why the play Crippled, by playwright Paul David Power, was indeed “culturally unique.” But a week before it was set to open, the visa was denied. – KQED

Yes, his angry Hitler from 2004’s Downfall was memed millions of times, but many of us remember him best as the angel Damiel from Wim Wenders’ 1987 masterpiece about divided Berlin, Wings of Desire. The actor “made his film debut as a hotel employee in The Man in the Black Derby (1961), a Swiss comedy, and was still busily making films in his late 70s.” In 2018 alone, he starred in five movies. – The New York Times

When Alicia Keys sat between two pianos and started to play, she gave a brief shout-out to Hazel Scott. But who was Hazel Scott? “An expert pianist who made a career out of the maneuver, an entertainer and movie star whose accomplishments made her a household name during her prime.” – Los Angeles Times

Holy hell. Quick recap: “We got a Talented Mr. Grifter story about a best-selling novelist, a plagiarism scandal involving the former editor of the biggest and most reputable paper in the country, and a blackmail saga involving dick pics.” – Vulture

Some things have changed, says actor Alyssa Milano. “I used to joke that whenever there was an animal on set there would be someone from the Humane Society [there] … but women are made to get totally naked with not one protection mechanism anywhere. I think all of that is going to totally change.” – Variety

Hm. The company has announced some recent “initiatives” and training courses for kids. “These programs aren’t just charity of course: They stood to serve Amazon itself in various ways—the most obvious, perhaps, being PR.” (And data collection.) – Vice

It’s a Shostakovich three-peat for the orchestra and its conductor, Andris Nelsons. Nelsons: “I don’t even know what to say. … I’m very happy, and honored, but mostly I’m proud of the Boston Symphony for very deeply playing and understanding these great symphonies.” – The Boston Globe

Reading doesn’t quite go with our everyday understanding of time. “It’s incommensurate but parallel: books unspool their own chronology of plot, intersecting our own lives, but in complicated ways. They fit into our days but they also stretch out alongside, cutting across everyday time, work time, social time, and lifetimes. .. We make time for books, but they in turn make time for us, generating rhythms that punctuate lives.” – Los Angeles Review of Books

It’s worth a try. “It’s been nearly a decade since Russian state museums last loaned works from their vast and magnificent collections to U.S. institutions. For example, no art by Rembrandt, Matisse, Picasso, da Vinci, Monet, Pissarro, Van Gogh or Gauguin housed in Russia’s storied Hermitage Museum has appeared in the U.S. since the Russians withdrew from all lending agreements in 2010.” – Dallas Morning News

Thelma Schoonmaker is an editor – perhaps the editor, in this case. She’s won three Oscars, and she just received an honor at the BAFTAs. Though she’s happy about the push for more diversity in Hollywood, she says, “People think there were fewer women in Hollywood than there were. … After all, Cecil B DeMille’s editor, Anne Bauchens, actually won an Oscar, and DW Griffith worked with Margaret Booth, and Alfred Hitchcock’s films were edited by his wife, Alma.” – The Observer (UK)

The BAFTAs in London happen “just two days before voting begins for the Oscars, are often considered a bellwether for the Academy Awards. The Favourite has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, tying with Roma and setting up another showdown at that event on Feb. 24.” – The New York Times

Surprise! “Those expecting a ho-hum Grammys night were surely jolted awake on Sunday when, just minutes into the show, Michelle Obama walked onto the stage hand-in-hand with Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith and Jennifer Lopez. They were joined by the host Alicia Keys.” And by the way, here’s the complete list of winners. – The New York Times

Or at least it COULD change, according to those at Janelle Monáe’s “Fem the Future” brunch. Stacy L. Smith, founder and director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative: “Collective action takes place when people lock arms, each group pushes a lever and we all do this in unison. … I’m expecting to see change in this industry quickly because of these simultaneous efforts.” – Los Angeles Times

Anne Midgette: As more and more orchestras record their live performances for broadcast and for sale, the Grammys may change. “Since, as we’ve seen, recordings tend to feature different repertoire than standard subscription programs, this trend of recording concerts for release is contributing, slowly but surely, to a perceptible broadening of the orchestral repertoire.” – The Washington Post

If you’ve seen Hirokazu Kore-eda’s other films, like Nobody Knows or Like Father, Like Son, you won’t be surprised that The Shoplifters isn’t all about joy. The director says, “I don’t portray people or make movies where viewers can easily find hope. … Some people want to see characters who grow and become stronger over the course of a film. But I don’t want to make such a movie.” – The New York Times

The OCAC’s future is in doubt after negotiations with both Portland State University and the Pacific Northwest College of Art ended without a deal. Meanwhile, with 70 full and part-time staff and a campus that may be about to be sold off, “OCAC serves 137 students, with around 50 due to graduate in May. It has begun transition planning for the remaining 80 in its degree program.” – Oregon ArtsWatch